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The Woman Who Laughed at God: The Untold History of the Jewish People

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I enjoy reading Jonathan Kirsch. Previously, I have read his book on Moses and The Harlot by the Side of the Road. I find his books to be intriguing, informative and entertaining. Very few books on religious subjects can be described by all three of these terms. But Kirsch has a non-pretentious style that draws the reader in and makes it easier to consider some of the astounding things he brings out.

Without beating you over the head with it, Kirsch is clearly writing from a Jewish perspective. As a Christian, I find Kirsch's books great background for what is the basis of Christian theology. In this book, he takes for his theme the changing shape of Judaism over the millennia. He points out how many sects of modern Judaism try to enforce a traditional religion based on the ancient practices of the Jewish people, forgetting that one of the hallmarks of the Jewish faith is how it has been able to adapt over the years and ensure the survival of both faith and people. All religions could take to heart the idea developed in this book; namely that, despite what hard-liners want to believe, religious practice evolves through time in any religion. Jews and Christians alike should search harder for what is right as opposed to falling back on what we've always done because it's what we've always done.

Kirsch offers many wonderful stories and descriptions in this book but one of my favorites is the one that is referenced in the title of the book. What happened to the days when human beings weren't afraid to question God and God wasn't offended to be questioned? Sarah laughs at God's promise of a son, Abraham debates with God over the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and Moses doubts and questions the burning bush. And these are just a few examples of challenges from people beloved by God. But these days the thought of questioning religious leaders, let alone God himself, are beyond the pale. Has this weakened us spiritually? I don't know the answer but it's one of the many questions inspired by this book.

Over time, I have come to the conclusion that books on religion are the best to read and the hardest to review. The reviewer is almost certainly to offend someone who holds passionate beliefs contrary to the author and/or the review. There is no way around this and I am sorry for it because I have no wish to offend anyone. Yet, as a person who doesn't have all the answers but considers himself to be in a state of constant exploration for the Truth, I enjoy reading nearly anything on philosophy and theology. I think any religious explorer with an open mind would enjoy this book.

Approximately the first third of the book is devoted to the author's fearless exposition of Hebrew Bible's ideas and personalities. Fearless in the sense that Kirsch unfailingly reveals what is omitted in most Bible study and Jewish or Christian Sunday Schools. Many of us in Protestant and Catholic traditions recall without insight that we were part of something called the "Judeo-Christian tradition" which meant we were Christians and very little else. Here is the "rest of the story!"

Kirsch is an American treasure for telling us what we should have learned if we were paying attention and if those teaching us knew themselves. "The essential point" as Mr. Kirsch states, is that "Jewish can be defined only through its richness and diversity." His exposition of the many "Judaisms" plus the Holocaust/Shoah, Zionism, nationalism, racialism is encompassed in his rich expression of Jewish "counter traditions." He even dares to speak of "secular" Jews and those that are...can you believe it...atheists! How shocking it would have been to have heard in Sunday School that Judaism is so fragmented. He also mentions "self hating Jews" which troubles this reviewer with its implication that those very Jews who push the envelope of diversity are not as free as the rest of us to do so without being complete traitors to tradition and somehow are implicitly intellectually/psychologically challenged!

Especially revealing is the author's discussion of Zionism. Most American church people think of Zionism only in terms of "Zion Baptist Church and/or a hymnal phrase 'city on a hill.' They should read this book. Kirsch states, "That is why the Jewish fundamentalists, (he might have included Christians here)then and now, regard the ultimate sin of Zionism as 'the transformation of the Divine and Holy people into merely one of the peoples of the earth'."

Thus, Kirsch exposes the core issue still troubling the Middle East...claims to exclusivity of a single people however diversely defined from a unique American intellect. What Kirsch reveals may undermine the picture carefully drawn of Jews by American evangelicals for more than two hundred years. However, "The Untold History of Jewish People" if read and understood by others of us in the Judeo-Christian tradition may cause drastic revision of some basic ideas. The Jews exist, even flourish, due to an expansive and dynamic adaptiveness. Others in the Judeo-Christian tradition continue to fragment and feel threatened in a changing world while preaching an unchanging "Word" which may have never been the intent of the people who authored the book in which it is contained!

Yes, Mr. Kirsch, so very much of history is indeed "untold." Thanks for telling us in such a lucid manner.

great writer, great overview of jewish history, great book overall! for anyone looking to start learning about the history of jewish people, this book is a great primer. i truly enjoyed reading this book and finished it over a single weekend. after reading THE WOMAN WHO LAUGHED... i feel competent and confident in picking up other books that delve deeper into more specific aspects of history.

i highly recommend this book...

An worthy book, to be sure, but based on false advertising.

Sarah, the woman referred to in the title, never laughed at God. She laughed to herself, when God promised Abraham that Sarah would bear his son, because she and Abraham were very old. God "overheard" her, but when God asked her why she laughed, she denied it. See Genesis 18: 12-15. In sum, Sarah is not half as bold as Kirsch claims.

Kirsch also makes the mistake of equating Judaism, a religion and a culture, with Zionism, a political movement. He forgets that not all Jews are Zionists and not all Zionists are Jews. He is all in favor of Jewish pluralism--except when it comes to differing perspectives on Israel. Then he thinks all Jews must rally round the Israeli flag.

When I undertook a study of Judasim, I plowed through dozens of dense, dry books until I came upon this book. It's a delightful, light read that left me knowing far more than when I started.

I'm ready to read it again.

I ALSO ENJOY READING Jonathan Kirsch' BOOKS. I ASK HIM TO PLEASE WRITE MORE. THERE ARE MANY A STORIES IN THE BIBLE JUST WAITING FOR HIM AND I TOO AM WAITING FOR ANOTHER GREAT READ!!
THANK YOU MR. KIRSCH!

I found this book to cover exactly what it promised- the fact that judaism has evolved through tradition and counter-tradition, that rabbinical judaism is one of many "judaisms" and that this process has been occurring since biblical times. I have read the author's other books on biblical topics and enjoyed them. But this book surpassed them for me. The last three chapters were very rich- thought-provoking and informative. If you are on a quest to know more, at the same time that you are questioning much, about Judaism, you will get a lot out of this book.

Kirsch's revelation (sic) that Judaism has a long history of diversity and myriad interpretations is old news by roughly 3500 years [Note to Jonathan: that is the definition of Midrash in the first place.] Repetitive exclamations! that biblical writers tried to conceal, whitewash, or censor this or that bit of information are presented in a tabloid style as often as not citing sloppy research or questionable scholarship. Newcomers to biblical inquiry may pick up a few nuggets of basic information here, but for my money Mr. Kirsh would be well advised to pay more attention to his serious subject than to selling books to supplement his income.

One need only read the first few paragraphs of "The Woman Who Laughed at God" to realize that Mr. Kirsch's agenda in his "Untold History of the Jewish People" is to convince the reader that there really is no such thing as traditional Judaism. The way in which he attempts to prove this hypothesis, however, is as muddled as this statement which appears on page two: "After three thousand years of rich and daring innovation, an argument can be made that diversity rather than orthodoxy is the real core value of Judaism...." Although diversity may be thought of as a value, orthodoxy is not - it is a position - thus one thing can't be compared to the other. In any event, the fundamental "core value" of Judaism is not diversity itself, but the mindset that we are commanded to have that welcomes diversity: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am God" (Leviticus 19:18). That this is the foundation of everything in Judaism is underlined by the following Talmudic story:

A non-Jew once came to Hillel (a sage who lived 2,000 years ago) and said, "I would like to become a Jew on the condition that you tell me the whole Torah while I stand on one foot." Hillel replied, "Don't do to others what you wouldn't like to be done to you. This is the whole Torah. The rest is commentary. Now go and learn it."

Unfortunately Mr Kirsch does not appear to have learned much Torah, for "The Woman Who Laughed at God" reveals fundamental misunderstandings and superficial interpretations of biblical texts on virtually every page. As the extensive bibliography does not even include the Talmud, which apparently Mr. Kirsch didn't bother consulting, nor any of the many classic Torah commentaries readily available to the public in modern translations, it's no wonder that the result is yet another misguided reinterpretation of Judaism.

This book is an attempt to reduce Judaism to a secularised entertaining and entertaining agglomeration of historical and cultural accidents, aimed primarily at amusing a contemporary non-Jewish reader, who might want to learn about the Jews in a non-threatening hollywood style. The perspective presented as a result is both "naughty and nice" as pre-empted by the opening quote from I.B.Singer talking about G-d as a writer "your novel G-d; too long, too cruel, too little love. Too much sex. .. But about one quality we all agree: G-d's novel has suspense."

The Jews and Judaism presented is a carnivale of hotch-potch traditions, fascinating in "a junior historian - did you know?!?!?!?" kind of way and unthreateningly heterogeneous. Far from a people a people unified by a single ethos and fate. Why draw attention to the unity of vision of return to the land of Israel from diaspora, when you can talk about different recipes for charoset between the Sephardim and the Ashkenazim? Why focus on evolution of spiritual vision, when you can scintillate audiences with historical allusions of ritual sex, "witches, demons and magicians" and lots of intermarriage. Not even a member of KKK would feel threatened by conspiracy theories, when all these multitudes of jews and "judaisms" have barely anything in common at all.

It's all been a bit of a historical joke and an accident and misunderstanding. Look Jews are just like everyone else - ...had cruel and stupid rituals, worshipped silly g-ds. This whole thing with anti-semitism and persecution has all been a bit of a mistake............

This book was not written out of love for Judaism and Jewish people. It was written out of fear of the suffering that being different has brought to the Jews over the past four thousand years. At a time when it is more critical than ever for humanity to unite in acceptance, tolerance and celebration of diversity of what it is to be human, Kirsch delivers a story that seeks acceptance for the Jews on "Hollywood terms". He "re-packages" the Jews as people that "we all" should be able to relate to - spiced up with a bit of sex, suspense and action and ultimately just as real as a "Hollywood ending".